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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

Chap........ Copyright Ko. 

Shelfj.-'^SSv ^ 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 




VIEW FROM MRS. THAXTER-S GARDEN GATE 



SONGS 

FROM APPLEDORE 

BY 

OSCAR LAIGHTON 

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS 




MDCCCXCIX 



: "P635SL3 






38763 

COPYRIGHT, 1899, BY OSCAR LAIGHTON 
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 



TWO COPIES ^eccivEo. 




T/ie Riverside Press, Cambridge ^ Mass.^ U. S. A. 
Electrotypedand Printed by H. O. Houghton & Company. 






PREFACE 

SINCE sleep sails far away when the 
heart is full of such sweet longing, I 
will venture to write you, dear, while the 
dew is yet falling and only the first rays of 
the dawn dare look with rosy light in your 
sacred window. 

The Islands are still sleeping in the em- 
brace of the quiet Ocean, though the glory 
of the uprushing Sun begins to gild the 
eastern cliffs of Appledore with ineffable 
splendor, and paint the sea and sky in ever 
changing shades of celestial color ! 

Oh, the radiant happiness that comes 
with the advancing day ! Wild roses fill the 
enchanted air with delicate fragrance, and 
the sparrows sing as if they had but one 
moment in which to crowd the whole rap- 
ture of the morning ! 

Here, where the sea encircles the wave- 
3 



PREFACE 

washed shore like a caressing hand, and the 
murmur of the water reaches me with almost 
the sweetness of your dear voice, I will tell 
you how much I love you. 

4 




CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Song : " Awake ! the morning greets the world '"' . . 9 

Song ; " Sweet wind that blows o Vr sunny isles ^"^ . 1 1 
Song : " Warm blows the South wind over Appledore "13 

Song : " The clover blossoms kiss her feet'''* ... 15 

At Sunset 17 

Her Shawl 21 

To Mary 23 

Song : ^'' A storm is gathering in the air''"' . . . . 25 

Alice Pierrepont 27 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

View from Mrs. Thaxter's Garden Gate 

Frontispiece 

A Sloop Yacht 4 

Rocks at Appledore 10 

Star Island and the *' Oceanic " from Apple- 
dore 12 

The Old Church on Star Island .... 14 

A Corner of Mrs. Thaxter's Parlor ... 16 

Celia Thaxter's Cottage 18 

The Landing at Appledore 20 

White Island Light 22 

Miss Underhill's Chair, Star Island ... 24 

The Children's Pond at Appledore ... 26 

Hauling up the Boats for the Winter . . 28 



SONG 

Awake ! the morning greets the world 
With radiant sunshine on the deep ! 

While ships go by with sails unfurled 
Are thy dear eyes still closed in sleep ? 

Listen, Sweetheart, I love thee dear, 
Behold this magic of the dawn ! 

O, life is sweet when thou art near. 

My day grows dark when thou art gone. 



Come thou with me, my morning Star ! 

These rays that on thy window shine 
Carry my trembling hope afar 

Some day, my Sweet, to call thee mine. 
9 



/ 



ROCKS AT APPLEDORE 



SONG 

Sweet wind that blows o'er sunny Isles 

The softness of the sea, 
Blow thou across these moving miles 

News of my love to me. 

Ripples her hair like waves that sweep 

About this pleasant shore ; 
Her eyes are bluer than the deep 

Round rocky Appledore. 

Her sweet breast shames the scattered spray 

Soft kissed by early light : 
I dream she is the dawn of day 

That lifts me out of night ! 
II 




STAR ISLAND AND THE ''OCEANIC" FROM APPLEDORE 



SONG 

Warm blows the south wind over Apple- 
dore ! 
The northern gaies that whirled the 
winter main 
In leagues of foam, rage round these Isles 
no more ; 
Through melting haze summer drifts 
north again. 

And thou art here — O, radiant is the day ! 

The clover blooms, our lonely Isles grow 

fair. 

Soft sunshine falls across the slumbering 

bay. 

The sparrow's song fills the enchanted air. 

Sweet, when you turn your lovely eyes on 
me 
I feel the winter's sorrow disappear, 
As dawn divine makes glad a storm-swept 
sea ! 
You are my Sun, my Song, my Summer, 
Dear. 

13 

















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THE OLD CHURCH ON STAR ISLAND 



SONG 

The clover blossoms kiss her feet, 

She is so sweet. 
While I, who may not kiss her hand, 
Bless all the wild flowers in the land. 

Soft sunshine falls across her breast. 

She is so blest. 
I 'm jealous of its arms of gold, 
O, that these arms her form might fold ! 

Gently the breezes kiss her hair. 

She is so fair. 
Let flowers and sun and breeze go by, — 
O dearest ! love me, or I die. 
15 




A CORNER OF MRS. THAXTER'S PARLOR 



AT SUNSET 

Come thou with me, dear love, and see the 
day 

Die on the sea, and o'er the distant land 
This last faint glow of twilight fade away, 

The while I hold in mine thy gentle hand. 

The lessening light gleams on yon leaning 
sail ; 

Slowly the sun has sunk beyond the hill, 
And sombre night in silence draws her veil 

Over us two, and everything grows still, 



Save when the tide, with constant ebb and 
flow 
Of wandering waves that greet the stead- 
fast shore 
Flashes fair forms of foam that falling throw 
Their arms of snow round lovely Apple- 
dore. 

17 




CELIA THAXTER'S COTTAGE 



AT SUNSET 

Faint, like a dream, comes the melodious cry 
Of far-off wild fowl calling from the deep, 

The rosy color leaves the western sky, 
Over the waves are spread the wings of 
sleep. 

Silent a meteor falls into the night 

Sweeping its silver shower across the 
stars ; 
Low down Arcturus sinks with waning light, 
High in the east climbs up the shining 
Mars. 

And w^hispering by us with a silent kiss 
Comes the sweet south wind o'er the 
slumbering sea. 
Thou dearest, can such perfect joy as this 
Be always mine, to drift through life with 
thee ? 

19 




THE LANDING AT APPLEDORE 



HER SHAWL 

Dearest, where art thou ? In the silent 

room 
I find this wonder of some foreign loom, 
Thy silken shawl, whose lines of loveliness 
The matchless beauty of thy form caress. 
Delicate raiment, shall I dare infold 
All these warm kisses mid thy threads of 

gold ? 
Oh, hold them close her icy heart above, 
Melting its winter into summer's love ! 
Beneath her coldness fonder still I grow. 
As violets bloom along the edge of snow. 
Through my sad heart there drifts a hope 

divine, 
O'er seas storm-swept shall softer mornings 

shine ; 
So love may dawn for me while at thy feet 
I wait, and kiss thy garment's hem, my 

sweet. 

21 



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V"' 



WHITE ISLAND LIGHT 



TO MARY 



Sweet are these flowers, yet Mary is more 

fair; 
Shaded with goldenrod her sun-kissed hair. 
I look in her blue eyes and can forget 
The Heaven reflected in this violet — 
Or, sweeter still, behold the lovely grace 
Of this fair dawn of roses in her face 
Fresh as the first anemones that swing 
Their tinted petals in the winds of Spring. 
O storms of life, that bend us all Uke reeds, 
Spare this dear lily blooming o'er the weeds ! 
O time, that all her unknown future holds, 
Make soft the gales while this sweet bud 

unfolds. 
So she may grow like wild flowers in our 

land. 
Pure as these blossoms in her gentle hand, 
23 



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MISS UNDERHILL'S CHAIR, STAR ISLAND 



SONG 

A STORM is gathering in the air, 
The gulls fly high in circles wide, 
Deep murmurs usher in the tide 

That foams o'er rocks all brown and bare. 

These Precious Isles are rough and fast. 
And swept by many a northeast gale 
That rends the bolt rope from the sail. 

And breaks in twain the groaning mast ! 

O love, my heart is like the sea. 
Surging with every gale that blows. 
Longing for winds that bring the rose, 

The happy summer-time and thee. 
25 




THE CHILDREN'S POND AT APPLEDORE 



ALICE PIERREPONT 

Above her grave the sparrow sings 
With radiant joy, summer is near, 
Fresh hope the lovely south wind brings ; 
Oh, could it wake you, Alice, dear ! 
Once more I see her matchless grace 
Through tears I cannot yet restrain ; 
Dear visions of her blessed face, 
I hear her gentle voice again ! 
O memory of a woman sweet. 
So true, so beautiful and brave. 
Let me draw near w4th reverent feet 
And lay these wild flowers on thy grave, 
The first anemones that sway 
Their blossoms in the winds of May. 



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HAULING UP THE BOATS FOR THE WINTER 



i 



JUL 7 1899 



